


Ivory Tower

by angelskuuipo



Category: Numb3rs
Genre: Community: numb3rs100, Early Work, GFY, Gen, POV First Person, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-06-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 07:16:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1770358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelskuuipo/pseuds/angelskuuipo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie thinks about what he can’t tell Don.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ivory Tower

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt- Ivory Tower
> 
> Originally written for [](http://numb3rs100.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://numb3rs100.livejournal.com/)**numb3rs100** , but I went a little too much over the word limit. Un-betaed. Any and all mistakes are mine.
> 
> Originally posted 10-3-07.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Don thinks I live in an ivory tower, a protective bubble. That I don’t know, or understand, what he deals with on a daily basis. I know all right. I’ve done the math. What the hell does he think I did for the NSA, budget analysis? Threat Matrices, risk analyses, so many different formulas and equations, that all boil down to one thing: How many people are going to die. Is it something I’m proud of, knowing that my math was used to kill people? No, but it also probably saved a lot of lives. At least, I hope so. Either way, I have to live with it.

Can I tell him any of this? No. He wouldn’t believe me anyway. His image of me is firmly entrenched in the pain-in-the-ass-tag-along little brother of years ago. Even though he utilizes my skills now, he doesn’t really see me as a mature, capable man. And yes, I do realize that I occasionally forget what day it is or that I forget to pay the bills, but that doesn’t mean I’m not an adult. I grew up a long time ago. I had to.

I may live in my head a little too much at times, but it’s my defense mechanism. Sometimes, what’s _out there_ really is too much for me to handle. After some of the things I’ve seen, I need to retreat. I’m stronger than anyone will give me credit for, just some days…not so much.

When Don got shot was one of those times. It was _my_ math that put him and his team in that situation. I had a personal, vested interest in the outcome and it turned into a disaster. Hell yes, I ran away. But I came back, because I couldn’t let him down. I don’t ever want to let him down again.

Don thinks I live in an ivory tower. Sometimes I do, but not near as much as he thinks.

-30-


End file.
